Pharmacognosy is the oldest branch of all the pharmaceutical sciences with the use of medicinal plants going back thousands of years.
By definition pharmacognosy is the study of drugs that are found from natural sources including plants, bacteria, and other organisms.
The word pharmacognosy is from two Greek words ‘pharmakon’ which means drug or medicine and ‘gnosis’ which means knowledge.
A more precise definition of pharmacognosy could be “the study of the physical, chemical, biochemical and biological properties of drugs, drug substances or potential drugs or drug substances of natural origin as well as the search for new drugs from natural sources” as defined by the American Society of Pharmacognosy.
Pharmacognosy is a multi-discipline specialty of drug discovery that includes:
Botany – identifying plant species, evaluating genetics and cultivation practices
Chemical characterization – includes the isolation and identification and of phytochemicals found in plants and other organisms.
Pharmacology – includes the evaluation of plants and natural products for biological effects in cell culture, animals and humans.
Quality control of natural products – Evaluating natural products for purity and potency is critical
Efficacy of natural products – Products are evaluated in humans to determine if they achieve the proposed health benefits.
Safety – Another critical factor is safety where adverse reactions, drug interactions are evaluated.
A dictionary definition of ‘pharmacongosy’ by Merriam-Webster includes:
a branch of pharmacology dealing with medicinal substances of biological origin and especially medicinal substances obtained from plants
The first known use of the term pharmacognosy goes back to 1811 when it was first used by Johann Adam Schmidt (1759 – 1809). The word appeared in his handwritten manuscript Lehrbuch der Materia Medica which was published in 1811.
You can read more about what Plant Medicine is here or clinical trials that have tested Plant Medicine here.
His research on plant medicine has led to more than 45 publications and abstracts.This research has been presented at international meetings in the USA, France, Turkey, Peru, Israel, Austria, and Italy.
Categories: Plant Medicine
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